FIFA World Cup: 5/1 To Expand To 40 Teams If Platini Elected President

With Michel Platini, French footballing legend and boss of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), hotly priced at 8/13 by online bookmaker Betway to become the next President of FIFA, the sports global governing body, the betting firm currently has odds of 5/1 that the World Cup will expand from 32 teams to 40 - one of Platini’s proposals.

Platini, who is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time and won the Ballon D’Or three times (1983, 1984 and 1985), has been outspoken about issues affecting European football clubs during his eight years at the head of UEFA. If elected FIFA President on 26 February 2015 he will no doubt seek to implement changes to the global game. After Sepp Blatter’s reign a fresh approach is surely required.

European Soccer Federation UEFA President Michel Platini, center, and UEFA EURO 2016 SAS chairman Jacques Lambert, present a facsimile of a Euro 2016 ticket to French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, June 10, 2015, a year before Euro 2016. Platini met with the French President amid speculation that he would run for the FIFA presidency. (Photo: Yoan Valat/Pool Photo via AP).

Back in 1930, when the first World Cup was held in Uruguay the competition had thirteen countries participating. Four years later it expanded to 16 and 24 in 1982. The current 32 teams came into play in 1998. Platini’s idea of 40 teams would see eight groups of five at the World Cup - up one per group from the present structure.

In addition to an expanded World Cup, Platini is in favour of a so-called ‘White Card’, which would send a player off the field to a ‘sin bin’ for 10 minutes. It happens in rugby union when the referee believes a player has committed a yellow card offence and committed a serious foul, so why not in football? As an ex-county level rugby player the idea makes sense.

Betway, a leading provider of entertainment across sports betting, casino, bingo and poker as well as being a major UK horseracing sponsor and main sponsor of English Premier League club West Ham United, has chalked it up at 7/1 that such a card would be introduced. Alan Alger, Betway's spokesman in London, commenting says: “Sending players to a ‘sin bin’ for 10 minutes during a match works perfectly well in rugby, but allowing additional substitutions may be a step too far for the football hierarchy.”